These teams aim to be the first South Ga. public school to win a girls soccer title

Two South Georgia programs are both one win away from making GHSA history this week.

Thomasville and Irwin County can both become the first public school programs south of Macon to win a GHSA girls soccer state championship. Thomasville will face Model in the Class A Division I championship on Thursday, and Irwin County will challenge Trion for the Class A Division II title on Friday.

Both teams have rolled through the first four rounds of the playoffs. The Bulldogs (22-0) have outscored their postseason opponents 26-2, and the Indians (18-1) have totaled a winning margin of 17-3. Irwin County’s only loss was to Thomasville.

“I think it’s just big as far as building the legacy of the soccer program down here and really all of South Georgia,” Irwin County coach Robert Brunel said. “If we win it or Thomasville (wins it), that’s a big feather in our cap down here in the South, because typically everything from the north is what’s winning those ball games.

“Just to show that the Southern soccer has really developed and has kind of arrived, for lack of a better phrase, is big.”

Thomasville put together one of the most dominant regular seasons in the state this season, outscoring opponents 112-6. The Bulldogs also earned impressive wins over much larger schools, like Lowndes, Colquitt County, Lee County and Thomas County Central.

Thomasville coach Lucas Kimmel knew he had a good season ahead of him in January. The Bulldogs returned most of their starters, and he saw an improved team in preseason practice.

But even Kimmel couldn’t have expected an undefeated season from a program that had never made the final four.

“The hope was definitely to make it to state, for sure,” Kimmel said. “As far as an undefeated season, that was just icing on the cake.”

Kimmel credited the team’s domination to its offensive speed and competitive drive. It showed immediately in Thomasville’s season-opening win over Lowndes, but Kimmel saw it clearly in a 4-3 win over Colquitt County in early March.

“I told the girls, ‘Nobody’s going to be able to stop us from scoring, but as far as getting scored on, I think that comes down to us, making sure we don’t make those simple mistakes that’ll cost us one of those cheap goals,’” Kimmel said.

Thomasville hasn’t allowed multiple goals in a game since then.

The Bulldogs rolled through region play and earned the No. 1 overall seed in the Class A Division I bracket. They beat every playoff opponent by at least four goals en route to their first state championship appearance.

With Thomasville’s boys team also making the state championship, Kimmel has seen his South Georgia community embrace high school soccer at a new level the last few weeks.

“We get congratulations and good lucks left and right throughout town,” he said.

Brunel has noticed a similar uptick in encouragement around Irwin County recently. The fifth-year coach said people have stopped him daily to ask about the team throughout the playoff run.

“When you have success, you create a buzz, and I think that we’ve kind of done that over the last couple of years here,” Brunel said. “Really started to create a buzz, and there’s more and more people in the stands and more and more excitement in town.”

Irwin County’s season met a full-circle moment in the third round when it faced Atlanta Classical Academy, which eliminated the Indians from the playoffs the year before. Irwin County had five freshman starters last season, and Brunel figured his young roster was intimidated before the game began.

The Indians never recovered from a slow start, and a 3-2 loss ended their 2025 playoff run.

“I was devastated,” sophomore forward Avery Conner said. “We knew that we would need to come back next year and make it further than we did.”

The loss fueled Irwin County throughout the season and into its rematch with Atlanta Classical on May 4. Brunel’s matured squad handled the pressure better, even when it squandered a 2-0 lead.

“We didn’t panic, and the year before, we kind of panicked and got loose and just had bad touches and bad play, trying to hurry things,” Brunel said. “This year, we didn’t.”